What’s big at the Big 5 Heavy 2018

Dennis Daniel
, March 6th, 2018

Putzmeister Middle East will highlight its product range and services for mortar machines, truck mixers as well as specialised pumps for industrial and underground applications such as waste treatment, mining, oil & gas and tunneling.

With ambitious plans for 2018, Putzmeister will start the year with the launch its new 47m truck-mounted concrete pump with the Ergonic 2 radio remote control.

Paul Bruns, regional director, Putzmeister Middle East, says: “The BSF 47-5.16 HLS will be displayed first at the launch of the new Mercedes-Benz Actros and Arocs heavy-duty trucks in the first week of March. It will then be showcased at the Big 5 Heavy expo and then at an open house event with our distributor German Gulf Enterprises in April. A pilot unit was sold one year ago in the UAE market, and the customer feedback we got so far is excellent. The new remote system enables a much easier operation and practically 0% downtime in case it stops functioning.”

Bruns points out that Putzmeister equips its products for the Middle East with additional features, considering the region’s high ambient temperatures and performance requirements.

“The expectations of our customers in the Middle East cannot be met if we use the same specifications as in our domestic market. Furthermore, the average amount of pumped concrete in cubic metres per annum in the GCC is much higher than that in Europe, which requires machines in the Middle East to handle higher loads. Our truck-mounted concrete pumps are equipped with a ‘Middle East Kit’ consisting of features allowing safe and smooth operation of our machines in this region,” says Bruns.

Bruns expects sales of truck-mounted concrete pumps in the GCC to remain steady with market saturation in the number of concrete suppliers. According to him, quality and safety regulations for ready mix operations has grown, creating new opportunities for customer support.

“There’s more public appetite for regulations in this sector. This offers us the opportunity to help our customers cope with future operational requirements and safety standards that will be introduced by government authorities,” he says.

Currently, one of Putzmeister’s major projects in the region is the Riyadh Metro in Saudi Arabia, which employs almost its entire concrete equipment range. The site work is being executed by Putzmeister’s Saudi Arabia dealer Medco, Putzmeister,Doka and Al Falwa Readymix.

BACS, a consortium consisting of Bechtel, Almabani, Consolidated Contractors Company and Siemens, is responsible for the design and build of Lines 1 and 2 of the Riyadh metro network. These two lines will be part of the six-line metro which will run for a total length of 176km across the city and include 85 stations.

“A truck mounted concrete pump M56-5 pumps the concrete vertically into a shaft to a stationary concrete pump BSA1409D. From the BSA concrete pump, an SK125 delivery line runs into the tunnel and end on a slab formwork to feed several RV12 lifts,” says Bruns.